Brundidge moves ahead with CDBG work

Published 3:00 am Wednesday, January 6, 2016

The Brundidge City Council moved ahead with the Community Development Block Grant project that will provide water, sewage and a public loop road to the site of the future Magnolia Vegetable Processors Company in the city’s North Industrial Park.

City Manager Britt Thomas on Tuesday asked the council to consider two resolutions related to the industrial development project for administrative and engineering services.

Thomas recommended Polyengineering of Dothan for the engineering services and Monroe and Associates for the administrative services.

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The council voted in favor or Thomas’ recommendations.

Thomas said once the construction of the projects begins the work will not take long to complete and the work including the loop road could be completed by June.

The council discussed the possibility of participating in the Municipal Intercept Services program, which is a debt recovery service offered to counties and municipalities.

The MIS is a new program that began December 2105,” Thomas said. “The Legislature passed a bill authorizing the collection of money owned to counties and cities by the League of Municipalities.”

The money owed could include that from a utility bill or a property lien.

The program authorizes the League of Municipalities to intercept the tax refunds of those who owe money to a city or county commission.

Thomas said MIS will not cost the city any money and could mean the collection of money owed to the city that might not be collected otherwise.

Councilmember Cynthia Pearson said she would like to have more time to look over the program. The MIS program was tabled until the next meeting.

Thomas said, all things considered, the city faired well during all the rain in late December.

According to the weather service in Birmingham, the city received just a shade under 15 inches of rain during a three-day period with Christmas Eve as the middle day, Thomas said.

“We had some problems with our infrastructure, with the greatest problem on Tennille Road, with a county site in the city limit,” he said. “The county assisted us with that problem. We also had a large problem at the end of Clayton Street with the blowout of a storm drain.”

Thomas said most of the drainage problems were in bottom areas.

The only road on the verge of being gone is at the end of Darby Street.

Thomas also reported that the city was not awarded an ADECA competitive infrastructure grant. The city scored 187 points. Cities with 190 points or more received grant funding.

Thomas said several of the cities that received grants had added points because they had not been awarded grants in two to three years.

The mayor and all council members were present except Steven Coleman, District 5.

The Brundidge City Council meets at 4 p.m. the first and third Tuesdays of the month at Brundidge City Hall. The meetings are open to the public.